


Red in Tooth and Claw

by poisonivory



Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 00:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11679942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonivory/pseuds/poisonivory
Summary: There are rumors that Daredevil’s a Shifter: a panther, an owl, a wolf. He knows too much, some people say. He’s uncanny. He’s afreak.No one’s been able to prove it. Matt can count on the toes of one paw the people who know about him - well, those who are still alive, anyway. Even those few are more than he’s comfortable with. It’s not safe for people to know - not for him, not for any Shifter.Never trust anyone who isn’t pack,Stick always said.Matt has no pack.





	1. There sat the Shadow fear’d of man

**Author's Note:**

> I really just wanted to write Matt as a cat, and the most outrageously silly Russian accent possible for Kraven.
> 
> The absolutely incredible art is by [ookaookaooka](http://ookaookaooka.tumblr.com/)! Please go check out [their art blog](http://flowerdragon.tumblr.com/), they're amazing!
> 
> Title is from "In Memoriam" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and this chapter fills the "held down" square on my Daredevil Bingo card.

_But thou art turn’d to something strange,_  
And I have lost the links that bound  
Thy changes; here upon the ground,  
No more partaker of thy change. 

_Deep folly! yet that this could be–_  
That I could wing my will with might  
To leap the grades of life and light,  
And flash at once, my friend, to thee. 

_For tho’ my nature rarely yields_  
To that vague fear implied in death;  
Nor shudders at the gulfs beneath,  
The howlings from forgotten fields; 

_Yet oft when sundown skirts the moor_  
An inner trouble I behold,  
A spectral doubt which makes me cold,  
That I shall be thy mate no more, 

_\- "In Memoriam," Alfred, Lord Tennyson_

-

Matt makes his way down the fire escape on silent cat feet. Most of the time he doesn’t bother. New Yorkers are used to constant background noise, and few would notice the scrape of a boot or the creak of a metal slat outside their window.

But this New Yorker would know what it meant.

He knows long before he reaches the fifth floor that Foggy isn’t home, even though it’s after nine on a weeknight. There’s no pulse of body heat from inside the apartment, no sound of breathing, no familiar heartbeat. He should move on, then. He has work to do.

But he stays, crouched outside a place he’s no longer welcome, a place that still smells more like home than almost anywhere in the world.

Foggy would be furious if he knew that Matt checks on him so frequently. Claire texts Matt occasionally to make sure he’s alive, though she’s no longer close enough for emergency medical treatment. Karen will accept tips from Daredevil, though she wants nothing to do with Matt. But he’s not in contact with Foggy at all, not since that terrible night when Elektra died. Not as Matt. Not as Daredevil. Not as...any of the things he is.

Matt wasn’t a good friend to Foggy, not ever and especially not at the end of things, but he can do him this one last favor of removing himself from Foggy’s perception. Still, he can’t quite let this go, the checking up. He knows it’s selfish of him, but sometimes he thinks it’s the last bit of humanity he has left in him - these stolen moments soaking up Foggy’s presence. Even if he can’t do it _as_ a human.

But Foggy’s not here, and Matt has work to do.

He forces himself away from the window, Shifting as he goes, and heads east. His human body is louder, but it’s better for covering long distances, and he’s got all of Hell’s Kitchen left to patrol tonight.

He’s passing over a dark side street that’s mostly fading sex shops and peep shows, a relic of the Hell’s Kitchen of twenty years ago, when he hears glass breaking. It’s a loud crash, like a store’s front window being smashed, and he hangs a left to deal with it.

There’s only one heartbeat as he draws near, a creeping drumbeat that’s steadier than he’d expect for someone kicking off a B&E. As he gets within range the figure takes shape: male, big enough to match that resounding heartbeat, smelling of gunpowder and oil and the musk of an animal Matt can’t place. He’s just inside the smashed window, but he’s not looting yet, just standing there - like he’s waiting for something.

Matt drops down on the street outside in human form. Maybe the burglar isn’t looting because he’s unsure, despite what his heartbeat would indicate. Maybe Matt can talk him down. “You don’t want to do this,” he says.

The burglar inclines his head. “Daredevil. Your legend has spread far. It is an honor to meet you.”

“You did this to meet me?” Matt asks, indicating the broken glass. “There are easier ways of getting my attention.”

“Yes, but I am preferring one that puts fewer innocents in harm’s way,” the burglar says. He has a Russian accent, but his tones are different than those of the Bratva - more aristocratic, worn smooth and indefinable the way Matt hears on the tongues of perpetual travelers. “The fewer people hurt the better, don’t you agree?”

Matt adjusts his grip on his billy club. The big Russian isn’t the first criminal to look to make a name for himself by calling Matt out. He’s been confronted by would-be gang leaders, fight ring champs, and idiot teenagers. They’ve all regretted it so far. “No one has to get hurt,” he says.

“Indeed. I am not foreseeing this being much challenge,” the Russian says. “I am fighting the lions barehanded and bringing down the tigers with nothing but my wits. I do not expect much trouble from common housecat. No offense.”

Matt freezes. Yes, there are rumors that Daredevil’s a Shifter: a panther, an owl, a wolf. He knows too much, some people say. He’s uncanny. He’s a _freak_.

No one’s been able to prove it. Fisk saw Matt Shift, when it was the only way Matt could make it to safety that night in the warehouse, but it hasn’t come up during any of Fisk’s legal proceedings. Matt isn’t stupid enough to think Fisk’s keeping it secret for any reason that will benefit Matt, but the longer Fisk chooses to stay quiet, the better. For now, Matt can count on the toes of one paw the people who know about him besides Fisk - well, those who are still alive, anyway. Even those few are more than he’s comfortable with. It’s not safe for people to know - not for him, not for any Shifter.

_Never trust anyone who isn’t pack,_ Stick always said.

Matt has no pack.

“Who are you?” he asks, dropping his voice to a growl so that it doesn’t shake.

“Forgive me.” The Russian inclines his head in a slight bow. “I am Sergei Kravinoff. Although you may be more familiar with my _nom de guerre:_ Kraven the Hunter.”

“Never heard of you,” Matt says. There should be sirens in the distance right about now, but there aren’t, at least not coming towards them. The Russian - Kravinoff, or Kraven, or whoever he is - has disabled the silent alarm. “What do you hunt?”

“Why, you,” Kraven says. “Your kind. The nature-blessed. Shifters.”

Matt twirls his billy club in his fingers. “Is that so? Well, I’ve dealt with Shifter-haters before, and I can do it again.”

Kraven holds up his hands and Matt crouches, but Kraven’s arms are spread wide, an easy gesture. “Oh, no, comrade, you misunderstand. I do not hate your kind. I admire you! What greater gift could there be than to be graced with the beauty and strength of the beasts? This is why I am hunting you.”

“You hunt Shifters...because you admire them?” Matt repeats.

“I do.”

“Then why bother with me, if you think I’m just an ordinary housecat? Not that I’m conceding that I am,” Matt says. He’s still a lawyer, after all.

Kraven ducks his head slightly. If Matt didn’t know better, he’d think Kraven was embarrassed. “I must admit you are not ultimate target. I am setting my sights on greatest prey of all: the one they call Hulk.”

Of course he has. The Hulk’s the most famous Shifter in the world, even though he isn’t really a Shifter at all. Shifterism is a hereditary nugget of humanity’s genetic code that’s been particularly hard to crack, but one Dr. Bruce Banner thought the infinitesimal bursts of gamma radiation Shifters expelled when they changed might be the key. One ill-conceived experiment later, Banner found himself subject to barely controllable changes into massive distortions of animal life: a bear with the head of a falcon, a water buffalo with poison fangs. All of them have been enormous, savage, and, Matt’s been told, inexplicably green.

He doesn’t know what he thinks of Banner. On the one hand, Banner conducted his research to help Shifters, too often overlooked or disdained by the scientific establishment because of the mystical nature of their powers. On the other hand, the monstrous results have given Shifters an even worse reputation than before, though the Hulk’s presence as the only sort-of Shifter on the Avengers is starting to change that slightly.

None of that, however, explains why Matt’s standing outside the broken window of a shoe store on 43rd and 9th right now.

“Sorry, I don’t know the Hulk,” Matt says. “I don’t think the Avengers are even in the city anymore. Can we skip to the part where I take you in for breaking and entering now?”

“I am afraid no,” Kraven says. He still sounds a bit sheepish. “You see, my lifestyle involves the considerable expense, and so occasionally I work on the commission. I have been hired to bring you to my client.”

“Your client?” Matt repeats.

“A Ms. Vanessa Marianna,” Kraven explains. “She was most generous.”

_Vanessa._ Suddenly it makes sense. Of _course_ Fisk would’ve told the woman he loved Matt’s secret - well, the secret he knew, at least - and of _course_ Vanessa would want revenge for what Daredevil did to Fisk.

“Well, you’re going to have to disappoint her,” Matt says, bracing himself. He needs to concentrate on the fight ahead, not who else Vanessa might have told about him.

“I respect you, Daredevil, and so it is with regret that I tell this to you,” Kraven says, “but I never disappoint a client.”

His heartbeat ticks up half a measure and Matt moves, darting out of the way as Kraven lunges towards him. Kraven moves surprisingly fast for someone so big, and his second swing clips Matt on the ear as he ducks, rattling his skull.

Matt’s always prefered the offensive approach, though, so despite his dizziness he charges forward, hurdling the bottom of the window frame and plowing into Kraven’s midsection. It’s like hitting a sack of cement, but it does the job and knocks Kraven off balance. Kraven rolls with it, taking Matt with him as he goes over backwards. Matt drives an elbow into his solar plexus and pushes up while Kraven’s wheezing. A few hits to the jaw to put him down, and - 

Kraven rolls left, and Matt’s knuckles slam into the linoleum. He bites back a curse and starts to rise, but Kraven’s scrabbling at something on the ground, hurling it at Matt in a wide swing, something his radar sense can’t quite make out - 

Heavy strands of hemp hit him in the face, knocking him out of his crouch. It’s a net, weighted at the ends. Of course - Kraven’s a _hunter._

Matt claws at the net, trying to untangle himself so that he can move. Kraven pulls out a small tube, holds it to his lips and aims it at Matt, and Matt barely has time to think _blowpipe_ before the first dart is whistling through the air towards him.

The armor blocks the first. He dodges the second.

The third hits his exposed jaw with a sharp sting and stays there. _Shit._

He manages to pull the dart out of his jaw, but he can already feel that it’s done _something._ He backs away from Kraven, but his legs buckle - and then he’s on four legs instead of two, crushed by a net that’s much heavier to his feline body than his human one.

What the hell? He didn’t decide to Shift. He concentrates as he squirms towards the edge of the net, and manages to Shift back to human - and then bounces back to cat again.

“Do not worry, Daredevil. I have been told to take you alive,” Kraven says, looming closer. Matt flattens his ears back, bares his fangs and claws even though he can’t turn and use them - 

_“BORF! BORF BORF!”_

There’s a tremendous barking and suddenly two large dogs sail in through the broken window, plowing into Kraven and knocking him down again. One of them keeps him pinned with massive paws on his shoulders, while the other tries to lift the net off of Matt with its jaws.

A cat leaps nimbly in after them and Shifts to a woman who smells of wool and bottom shelf liquor. “Use your _hands_ , you idiot,” she says, and lifts the net off of Matt like it weighs nothing.

Matt shoots out from under the net and hunches against the wall, fur bristling. The dog who’d been trying to free him Shifts too, into a young man who smells like expensive soap and M&Ms. “We’re not all as strong as you, Jessica.”

She shrugs. “Luke is. Guess you’re just a weakling, Rand.” Neither of them seem concerned by Kraven, who is still struggling to get out from under the other dog. Matt can’t figure out why Kraven can’t throw a dog, even a big one, off of him, but at least he doesn’t have to worry about any more darts right now.

The man - Rand? - turns to him. “He’s not Shifting. You think we rescued a regular cat?”

“Why would Ivan the Magnificent here go to all this trouble for a regular cat?” Jessica asks.

Rand squats down in front of Matt. “You okay, little dude?”

Matt concentrates, hard, and Shifts back. It takes far more energy than it should.

“Whoa,” Rand says. “Jess, Luke, we rescued Daredevil!”

Kraven slams his fists down on the other dog’s knee and the dog howls in pain. “You have rescued no one yet, pup!” he says, shoving the dog off of him and snatching up - shit, a _rifle_ , how had Matt missed that before?

“Get down!” he shouts, leaping for Jessica, who’s closest to Kraven. _Bang! Crack!_ Two shots split the air. The store fills with the smell of gunpowder as Jessica swears and Rand hisses in pain.

The other dog lunges in front of them, Shifting as he does into a man nearly a head taller than Matt. And - are the bullets _ricocheting_ off of him?

Apparently, because he takes a few fearless steps forward as Kraven keeps firing, and Matt suddenly remembers a story about a bulletproof man in Harlem. “Guess you haven’t heard about me,” the man tells Kraven. “Bullets don’t do much. You might want to try something else.”

A siren wails in the distance. Matt loses his concentration and Shifts, cat-human-cat, so fast he’s left dizzy.

“Ah, the cossacks come. Another time, Daredevil!” Kraven says. He snatches up his pack and bolts for the back entrance.

The bulletproof man starts after him, but Jessica calls: “Let him go, Luke. Danny’s hurt, and this guy’s freaking out.”

Matt forces himself to Shift again. “I’m fine,” he says, pushing himself to his feet.

“So you’re Shifting all over the place like a kitten for the fun of it?” she asks, sounding skeptical.

“He - Kraven, or whatever his name was. Injected me with something. I think it affects my Shifting,” Matt says. He sniffs. “You’re bleeding.” They both are, Rand and Jessica both.

“Fuck, I liked this jacket.” Jessica rotates her shoulder and the smell of fresh blood in the air grows thicker. “If you hadn’t pulled me out of the way it would’ve been my chest, though.”

“Yeah.” Matt waits.

Jessica snorts. “All right, fine, _thank you._ Danny, you okay?”

Danny - _Rand_ , that’s _Danny Rand, the billionaire_ \- hobbles over. “Dinged my thigh.”

“Guys, we gotta go,” Luke says. “Unless any of you feels like explaining this to the police.”

“Not particularly,” says Jessica.

“I know a place nearby we can go,” Danny offers.

“I don’t - ” Matt starts to say, and loses it in a frustrated meow as he Shifts again.

The sirens are almost there. “Let’s move,” Luke says.

“Come on, Whiskers,” Jessica says, and picks Matt up by his scruff. He lets out a yowl of protest which she completely ignores, and takes off after Danny, with Luke bringing up the rear. At least Matt isn’t the only one subject to this indignation; after Danny falters a third time, Luke scoops him up and carries him like a child despite his complaints.

They follow his directions past the eastern boundary of Hell’s Kitchen, staying in the shadows to avoid the neon of Midtown. 

“In there. The back entrance,” Danny says. “Less security that way.”

There’s a familiar scent in the hallway and the elevator, but Matt’s more concerned with Kraven, and whatever he injected Matt with, and why he can’t control his Shifting, and how he suddenly ended up in an elevator with a billionaire and the vigilante of Harlem and a strange woman who is currently bleeding on him. He doesn’t have the brainspace left to figure out why the building smells like home, even though he knows he’s never been there before.

“You think he’ll be here?” Jessica asks.

“Yeah, he works late all the time. We made plans to go go-carting once and he was five hours late,” Danny says.

“Why were you _go-carting?_ You’re adults. Sort of.”

“You’re just jealous we didn’t invite you.”

Jessica snorts and Luke snickers, but Matt doesn’t care because the elevator doors are opening to a single heartbeat down a narrow hall and a stronger scent than ever, and he suddenly knows why this place feels like home.

He starts to struggle in Jessica’s grip. He needs to leave. He’ll figure out his Shifting problem on his own. He can’t be here.

“What’s with Daredevil?” Luke asks.

“Ow!” Jessica says, adjusting her grip. “What’s with him is I’m gonna kick his ass if he scratches me again - hey!”

Matt leaps out of her arms, makes a tremendous effort and Shifts on the way out so that he’s standing on two feet when he lands. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I have to go. I - ”

The door at the end of the hallway opens. “What is going on out - what the - Luke? Jess? What are you…”

The familiar voice trails off. The familiar heartbeat pounds, as fast as panic.

Matt knows the feeling.

“Hi, Foggy,” he says.


	2. And I shall know him when we meet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daredevil Bingo square: "jurisdiction."

“You know Daredevil?” Jessica asks Foggy.

“You know my lawyer?” Danny asks Matt.

Matt pushes down a ridiculous surge of jealousy at the possessive. Foggy isn’t anything to him anymore except gone.

“You two need medical attention,” he says instead of answering the question, because it’s the only thing he can bear to say.

“You _three_ need medical attention,” Luke corrects, texting with one hand while he holds Danny up with the other. “It’s on its way. We just need a place to lie low, Foggy, sorry.”

Foggy holds the door of his office open wide, and Luke walks in and lays Danny on the couch. “You’re hurt?” Foggy asks Matt.

The time for fleeing is past, so Matt follows Jessica into the office. “Not exactly.”

“Some whackjob injected him with anti-Shifter juice or something, I don’t know,” Jessica says.

Foggy rakes a hand through his hair. “Shit. Danny, can’t you - “

Danny eases himself into a half-seated position on the couch. Of course there’s a couch. Foggy had dragged a horrible raggedy one off a curb for Nelson and Murdock’s offices, bribed Brett and Matt into helping him haul it up the stairs with a couple of six packs. _I’m not going to spend eight hours a day with nowhere to nap,_ he insisted.

This is a new couch, a nice one, expensive. Everything in this office is expensive. _Foggy_ is expensive, now, the way he always wanted to be.

Matt has no business being here.

“Working on it,” Danny says, as Jessica eases her jacket off with a muffled curse and sits on the arm of the couch, by his feet. “I just need to catch my breath so I can center myself.”

Matt has no idea what he’s talking about and right now he doesn’t care. He just wants to get away from Foggy before he drowns in him. “Listen, I should go - ”

“Hey, wait,” Luke says, but it’s Foggy who catches Matt by the door.

“I didn’t know you knew them,” he murmurs.

“I didn’t until tonight,” Matt says. “But you did, huh? No moral issues with _these_ vigilantes? With _these_ Shifters?” He didn’t expect it to come out that bitter, but he doesn’t want to take it back. He means it.

“That’s not fair,” Foggy says, sounding stung. For an instant Matt’s viciously glad he’s scored a point, and then the guilt swamps him again. “You know that wasn’t what I - you know I don’t care that you’re a Shifter. I never would’ve cared.”

The “if you’d _told_ me” goes unsaid, but not unheard. It’s an old argument, and Matt can’t bear to go through it again, especially when he can tell that the others are listening with interest. “What’s this business here?” Luke asks, waving a hand in their general direction.

“Yeah, what’s with the sweet nothings?” Jessica asks.

“They’re not - ” Foggy lets out an annoyed puff through his nose. “We’ve...worked together before. When I was at my old firm. Stop bleeding on my couch.”

“The firm you had with that guy you’re all tragic about?” Jessica asks.

There’s a bloom of heat from Foggy, like a blush, but all he does is walk away from Matt like he’s finished with him and squat down by the couch. “Danny, can’t you heal yourself?”

“I think so, now.” Danny takes a deep breath, and then - Matt isn’t sure, exactly. It’s like the energy in the room changes, like everything is pointed towards Danny, everything _alive_ in Matt flowing towards Danny’s right hand as he holds it, palm down, over his own thigh.

There’s a crackle of tension in the air, but not a bad one - like the buildup of pressure before a sneeze, or the tautness of a badly-needed stretch - and then everything releases with a feeling like a sigh, and Danny stretches his leg out with a pleased little chuckle.

“I never get tired of watching that,” says a familiar voice behind Matt, and he jumps.

“Claire?” He didn’t even hear her come in, he was so distracted by whatever Danny just did.

“How come I’m not surprised that you’re mixed up with these knuckleheads too?” she asks, squeezing past him to get into Foggy’s office.

“You know Daredevil?” Luke asks.

“I’m pretty sure I mentioned that,” Claire replies, pushing up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

Okay. That’s...something Matt’s going to have to process elsewhere when all this is over. From the way Jessica turns her head away, he’s not the only one feeling strange about this.

“What’s the damage?” Claire asks, turning away from Luke to survey the rest of them, hands on her hips. Matt has a sudden memory of his kindergarten teacher surveying his class in much the same way.

Danny sits up. “I’ve patched up the internal damage but could probably use a stitch or two. I kept some chi in the tank for Jessica, and to try to fix whatever’s going on with Daredevil.”

“I don’t…” Matt started, bewildered.

“Danny’s called the Iron Fist, or he _has_ an iron fist, or something,” Foggy says, sounding tired. “I don’t really understand it, but he fought a dragon on a mountain and now he can punch really hard and heal things with his chi.” He shrugs. “I figured I’d move things along.”

“That doesn’t really clarify much,” Matt says, though he’s less interested in Danny’s strange abilities or a bizarre story about a dragon than he is in how Foggy knows all of this. Maybe they discussed it while _go-carting._

“Later,” Claire says. “Jessica’s wobbling. You.” She points at Danny. “Heal her. You.” She points at Matt. “What’d you break this time?”

Matt fills her in on their encounter with Kraven and its aftereffects, uncomfortably aware of Foggy listening in on the whole thing. Danny finishes healing Jessica, or at least stemming the flow of blood, and hands her off to Claire for stitches. He’s left panting and sweating; Foggy silently presses a candy bar and a bottle of water into his hands, and Danny downs them, then turns to Matt.

“I don’t know if this’ll fix anything,” he says, “since I don’t exactly know what that dart did, but let’s see.”

Reluctantly, Matt moves closer to the couch, and Danny stretches out a hand towards him. Matt feels a _tug_ \- and suddenly he’s a cat again, twitchy with five very big humans looking down at him.

“That’s not what I meant to do.” Danny appears to be looking at his fist, and there’s a slightly accusatory tone to his voice.

Matt concentrates, Shifts, loses his balance. Luke props him up until he’s steady, which is humiliating. “What did you mean to do?”

“I don’t _know!_ ” Danny says. “I’m trained in fighting, not healing! I just sort of...concentrate on making whatever I’m healing be...what it’s supposed to be.”

“Well, I’m not supposed to be a _cat_ all the time,” Matt says. He knows he’s whining. He doesn’t care.

“There’s a lot of things you’re not supposed to be,” Foggy mutters.

Matt feels a swell of anger and suddenly he’s a cat again. He spits in frustration, jumps up on the couch next to Danny, and concentrates again until he can Shift back, scowling.

“You can’t control it?” Jessica asks.

“Obviously not,” Matt says, more snappishly than he should considering she probably helped to save his life earlier. But it’s embarrassing. Shifters grow out of rapid, uncontrolled Shifting during toddlerhood - thankfully, or they’d run the risk of being exposed as Shifters once they started school. Matt inherited Shifterism from his mother’s side, and his dad, unused to baby Shifters, used to wax rhapsodic about how cute Matt had been, changing rapidly from infant to kitten and back again in his crib. But what was cute in a baby could be fatal in an adult, especially if Matt doesn’t know the Shifts are coming.

“Right.” Claire’s finished checking over Danny and Jessica. Now she points to each of them in turn. “You two, and Luke, give us a few minutes, okay?”

“Why doesn’t Nelson have to wait in the hall?” Jessica asks, even as she slouches towards the door.

“Because it’s my office, Jones,” Foggy says easily. Jessica gives him the finger, and Claire sighs and shuts the door with the other three Shifters outside of it.

She turns back to Matt. “Helmet off. I want to see if your eyes are dilating.”

“My eyes are rarely doing much of anything,” he says, but he tugs the helmet off obediently and sits patiently as she pokes and prods at him, concentrating on staying human. “So...how do you know all of them?”

“Jessica kidnapped me from work when I was still at Metro Gen to help Luke with a medical emergency,” she says. “And I started taking self defense after one of your ninja buddies threw me out of that window.”

Matt winces, pops back to cat and human again. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault. Anyway, my teacher started dating Danny, and I got mixed up in all of _his_ craziness, because I never learn. I introduced him to Luke, because hey, Shifters with special powers should stick together, right?”

Matt doesn’t have any right to feel stung - well, metaphorically; physically he’s stung because Claire’s drawing blood - but he does anyway. “Except for me?”

“Matt, I can’t even get you to talk to your best friend, how’m I gonna hook you up with strangers?” she asks pointedly, jerking her head towards Foggy. Matt turns his head away and Foggy makes a soft noise Matt can’t interpret. “Are you two still on the outs? Jesus, Matt.”

“It wasn’t solely my decision,” Matt says tightly.

“Fine. Jesus, Foggy,” Claire tosses over her shoulder.

Foggy sighs. “Claire, you are the light of all of our lives, but I’m not really up for couples counseling at the moment.”

She huffs a lock of hair out of her eyes and sticks a thermometer in Matt’s ear. “Yeah, yeah. How do you know Jess and Danny? You never said.” To Matt, she adds, slightly sheepishly, “I introduced Foggy to Luke when Luke needed some legal advice.”

That’s another little sting, but Matt lets it go and listens to Foggy explain. “Danny’s one of Hogarth’s clients, and Jessica’s one of her investigators. She asked me to work with them because, uh.” Foggy coughs. “I’ve become sort of the office expert on vigilantes and the law.”

At that Matt can’t help his bitter laugh. “Well, you’re welcome.”

“Yeah, thanks, it’s just what I always wanted,” Foggy snaps.

“What? A fancy office in a high-rise and your name on the letterhead? Sounds about right.”

“Oh, so now _I’m_ the one who abandoned the firm? Who’s the one who actually showed up for _court_ , Matt?”

Matt tries to clench his fists, but they’re already turning into paws as he Shifts again. He bares his teeth and lashes his tail, tempted to rake his claws through Foggy’s nice new couch until it’s as ragged as the one still sitting in Nelson and Murdock, tempted to hiss and yowl until he’s given vent to his rage in a way Foggy can’t argue with.

Instead, he composes himself - not least because he can’t get out of Foggy’s office on his own without thumbs - and Shifts back.

“So I’m thinking whatever this is, it’s triggered by stress,” Claire muses.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Matt grits out.

Foggy snorts. Matt barely clings to his human body.

“Right, well, as enjoyable as sitting in the middle of _Kramer vs. Kramer_ is, do you want to put your helmet back on so I can let the others back in now?” Claire asks.

“Fine.” Matt reaches for his helmet. At least his clothing Shifts with him; he never could have become Daredevil if he was going to risk Shifting out of his mask in an emergency.

Claire opens the door as Matt’s fastening the catches, and Jessica looks sharply back and forth between the three of him. “Wait, did you take the mask off? Do you two know who Daredevil is?”

“Debatable,” Foggy mutters.

“Right,” Claire says. “Listen, I’m not going to even try to guess at how to reverse engineer this until I figure out what your new friend shot Daredevil with. I’ve still got a couple of friends at Metro Gen who’ll help me analyze his blood sample.”

“You can use the Rand labs too,” Danny offers.

“Thanks,” Claire says. She takes a deep breath and Matt braces himself, knowing he’s not going to like whatever she says next. “And...I would rather not leave you in this state without someone monitoring you, in case your condition worsens.”

“No,” Matt says immediately.

“What if you get stuck as a cat? What will you do?”

“That won’t happen.”

“How do you _know?_ ” she counters. Matt presses his lips into a thin line and says nothing. “Right. Do you have someone you can stay with? It can’t be me, I’m sorry. I live with my mother and I don’t want her caught in the crossfire if this Kraven guy comes looking for you.”

Jessica puts her finger on her nose. “Not me. I don’t know you and I generally don’t let guys in devil fetish playsuits spend the night.”

Luke shrugs. “You can crash with me, I guess, but I don’t know if you want to spend that much time out of Hell’s Kitchen,” he says with obvious reluctance.

“Ooh! Stay with me! I have six bedrooms and a robot that controls the light switches,” Danny offers.

Matt bites his lip. It’s a generous offer and Danny seems nice, if excitable, but he’s not sure he wants to stay at the apartment of a billionaire who’s been in the tabloids multiple times since he returned to New York. Especially if it means Matt will have to keep his helmet on indefinitely, a thought that makes him suddenly claustrophobic.

But who else can he stay with? He knows Claire isn’t going to let this go, but he can’t show up on on Karen’s doorstep like this. Father Lantom? No, that’s ridiculous.

Foggy sighs. “You can stay with me. Or I can stay with you, whichever.”

Matt’s jaw hangs open, then closes with a clack of teeth. “No, I can’t - I can’t impose on you like that. You don’t want - ”

“You’re right. I don’t. But I don’t want to spend all night worrying about you either. Besides, do you have a better option?” Foggy asks. “No offense, Danny, but he can take the helmet off around me.”

For a moment, panic swamps Matt at the thought of spending an indefinite length of time in Foggy’s space, or Foggy spending it in his. It’s too much, too soon, too close. It’s a recovering alcoholic in a brewery, a gambler stranded in Las Vegas with his life’s savings in cash. Better to spend a day, a week, a _month_ at Danny’s, no matter how claustrophobic the helmet gets. Better to spend it as a cat. He needs to say no.

“All right,” he says instead, because that’s what addicts do.

“Aw,” Danny says, disappointed.

“...Okay, great,” Claire says. “That’s actually...that’s really good, guys.” She’s always expected Matt to be better than he is. He can sense Jessica and Luke looking back and forth between him and Foggy, curious.

Claire gives Matt and Foggy a few symptoms to watch out for besides the obvious as she packs up her supplies. “And listen, I know you’re going to ignore me here, but don’t think you should go after this Kraven guy again until I figure out what he injected you with.”

“I’m not going to let someone who hunts _people_ run wild in Hell’s Kitchen,” Matt says.

Claire turns her head towards Luke. Matt can’t make out her expression, but he knows the heavy silence of someone giving someone else a significant look. “I was _gonna_ ,” Luke says to her, and then to Matt: “We got your back, DD. Shifters have it bad enough, the last thing we need is someone hunting us.”

“Yeah, come join the team!” Danny says.

“We’re not a team,” Jessica says.

“She always says that,” Danny tells Matt.

“I’m going to kick your ass.”

“She always says that too.”

Matt has no interest in joining any kind of team, official or otherwise, especially when he’s still living with the weight of what happened to the last person who fought at his side. But he can hardly turn them down after they saved his life, and he doesn’t want to deal with Claire’s disapproval if he tries. Or Foggy’s, if Foggy still cares enough to disapprove of Matt not taking backup.

Besides, he can always say yes and go after Kraven on his own, especially once this dart poison works its way out of his system.

“Thanks,” he says, and gives Luke and the others his latest burner to put their numbers in, grateful that he carries that while in costume and not his accessible-enabled smartphone. That would give away a little bit more than he’s ready to share at the moment.

The other Shifters and Claire file out, Claire not without a firm hug and even firmer orders to keep her updated on his condition.

And then it’s just him and Foggy.

Foggy sighs and walks over to his desk. Matt hears the faint click of a button and the whirr of Foggy’s computer fan fading into silence. “Well,” Foggy says, “your place or mine?”


	3. That made me dream I rank’d with him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daredevil Bingo square: "AU: wereanimals."

They decide on Matt’s, since it’s more accessible for a blind man, a cat, _and_ Daredevil. Foggy has an old t-shirt and a toothbrush at the office that he can bring along. Matt remembers when he started keeping those things around back at Landman and Zack, when they would nap in the wee hours because they were too busy trying to work their way up to take the time to go home and sleep properly. He never thought he’d miss those days.

They’re lucky it’s late, because Matt Shifts twice on the way home. The second time Foggy bends down and murmurs, “Do you want to just stay like that for now? I can carry you the rest of the way.”

Matt hisses in indignation before Shifting back. “I’m _fine_ ,” he says.

“Oh yeah, I can see that, you’re doing great,” Foggy drawls, but they make it the rest of the way back to Matt’s apartment without further incident.

Matt climbs up the fire escape and enters from the roof, then lets Foggy in through the front door. He can tell that Foggy’s looking around, probably evaluating how Matt’s living these days, and he feels a petty sense of triumph that there’s nothing for Foggy to reproach him with. He’s not living in squalor; the couch isn’t soaked with blood. His food supply is getting low, but there’s a grocery delivery coming in two days. He’s neither helpless nor a wild animal, no matter what Foggy might think.

The more rational part of him knows that Foggy’s never thought either of those things, but he’s in no mood to be rational right now.

“You can take the bed,” he says instead, and gestures to the couch. “The billboard won’t bother me.”

“I don’t know if you should sleep on the couch. Are you injured?” Foggy asks.

Matt bristles. “Don’t you think Claire would have said something if I was?”

Foggy sighs. “Whatever. I can’t fight on an empty stomach. You want me to order something?”

Somehow it makes Matt angrier that Foggy won’t argue with him, like he’s not even worth expending that much energy. He fights off the Shift that he can feel coming. “Sure. Whatever you want. I’ll pay.”

“In that case, I’m getting sushi,” Foggy says. Matt rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue.

Foggy drops his phone on the coffee table after he orders and sinks down on the couch. Matt’s pathetically relieved he didn’t take the chair where he sat the day he found out all of Matt’s secrets, the one that made it feel like a tribunal.

Of course, that leaves Matt wondering whether to sit on the couch next to Foggy, or take the chair himself. He postpones the decision by going into the bedroom to change out of his armor.

“So why is this Kraven guy after you?” Foggy calls as Matt pries his boots off. “Just the notoriety? How’d he even know you’re a Shifter?”

Matt winces. This isn’t going to be a fun conversation. “He was hired,” he says.

He hears Foggy’s heartbeat tick up. “Hired?” he repeats. “But...he knew you’re a Shifter. How many people know that, even about Daredevil and not, you know, you?”

“You,” Matt says. “Stick. Father Lantom. Karen and Claire. Your new vigilante buddies.” Foggy lets out a frustrated puff of air but doesn’t say anything. “And Fisk.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Foggy says. “Fisk? Really?”

Matt comes out of his bedroom in his boxers, t-shirt in hand. He could have pulled it on first, but he wants Foggy to see that he wasn’t lying, that he’s not hiding injuries he didn’t tell Claire about. “The night you...found me,” he says. “When Fisk nearly killed me. I had to Shift to get away.”

He can tell Foggy’s looking at him. A year ago he would have been able to deduce Foggy’s facial expression from body language and tone of voice. Now he can only guess.

Finally Foggy sighs. “And he...what, hired this guy from jail?”

“I don’t think he had anything to do with this, actually,” Matt says. “But apparently he told his girlfriend about me.”

“His...that Vanessa woman you stalked at the art gallery?” Foggy asks. “No one’s been able to find her.”

Matt shrugs. “Yeah, well, wherever she is, apparently she can still wire money to lunatics funding their one-man crusades against the Hulk.”

“ _That’s_ why he’s doing this?”

“So he said.”

Foggy groans and rubs his face. “Christ, Matt, you lead the most fucked up life.”

“I punch out drug dealers and car jackers,” Matt snaps. “You think that means I _asked_ to be hunted like an animal?”

“That’s not what I said and you know it,” Foggy retorts.

“It’s what you were thinking.”

“What, so you can hear thoughts now too?” Foggy demands. “Just because you can smell my fucking pulse or whatever doesn’t mean I don’t get to have any privacy. Or make up my own mind about things.”

“I never _told_ you you couldn’t - ”

“No, you never did me the courtesy of telling me anything, did you?” The doorbell rings before Matt can answer, and Foggy stands up. “And put some damn clothes on, for Christ’s sake. The delivery guy doesn’t need an eyeful.”

Matt Shifts instead, involuntarily, and spits in frustration. Foggy groans. “Hang on,” he says, and opens the door.

Matt’s not about to Shift in front of the delivery guy, so he waits, tail lashing, until Foggy’s exchanged pleasantries and triple-locked the door. Then he Shifts back and yanks his shirt on with angry, jerky movements.

“I’ll pay you back. I already said I’d pay,” he says, grabbing a couple beers out of the fridge as Foggy starts unpacking the food on the kitchen table.

Foggy sighs. “With what money, Matt?”

Matt slams the beers down on the table, making Foggy jump. “I. _Work_ ,” he snaps. “I have _cases_. I may not have a sleek new office and billionaire clients, but I’m not completely helpless without you, Foggy.”

“Oh, don’t worry, buddy, you’ve made it perfectly clear you don’t need me,” Foggy says. “My office, maybe, but not _me_.”

“I didn’t know it was your office until we got there,” Matt says. “And besides, you didn’t seem to have a problem with the entire vigilante population of the West Side holing up there. Just Daredevil.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Foggy asks. “Are you actually mad that I’m friends with them? Was I supposed to delete Claire’s number from my phone and never socialize again?”

“No!” Matt says, clinging to human form with the tips of his claws. “I just...it’s not…”

_It’s not fair,_ he wants to whine, like a child. _Why are you okay with_ them _being vigilantes? Why are you okay with_ them _being who they need to be? Why them and not me?_

Instead he counts out his breaths the way Stick taught him, when he was a child and learning to mediate. The need to Shift fades, a little, but Matt can still feel it lurking on the edges of his consciousness, like an itch that he can’t quite scratch.

“Nothing,” he says. “Let’s just eat.”

They eat dinner in near silence. Matt realizes that Foggy’s ordered all of his favorites, and isn’t sure how to feel about the fact that Foggy remembered.

Halfway through, a noise from outside startles Matt into a sudden Shift. His chopsticks hit the floor with a clatter as his fingers change to pads and he’s left startled on his chair, too small to reach the table.

“Uh,” says Foggy, and then goes silent, waiting. Matt’s grateful. He’s too angry and humiliated to deal with anything Foggy might say right now.

He concentrates and Shifts back, then picks up his chopsticks and the sushi he dropped. As he tosses them into the garbage can, he realizes that Foggy probably picked the sushi because it was something Matt could eat in either form, without the attendant shame of having to eat out of an open can of tuna or something like that.

He can’t deal with that thought, either. Instead, he fishes a spare pair of chopsticks out of his utensil drawer, sits back down, and waits for Foggy to speak.

“What kind of cases?” Foggy says finally.

That wasn’t what Matt was expecting. “Huh?”

Foggy pokes at his own food with his chopsticks as if it’s suddenly fascinating. “You said you had cases. Uh. Tell me about them?”

It’s an olive branch, albeit a small one, and Matt clutches it gratefully. “Tenancy stuff, mostly,” he says. “I’ve been making myself pretty unpopular with the landlords of Hell’s Kitchen. There’s this one guy…”

Talking about cases is comfortable, safe, even if it’s weird to be working on cases Foggy doesn’t already know about. Foggy mentions a few details from his own. It’s almost normal.

Or would be, if Matt could stop Shifting. The changes are coming faster now, unprovoked and sudden, as if to bolster Claire’s worry that the problem is degenerative - that he might eventually not be able to Shift back. He tries not to think like that, but every time he Shifts it takes him longer to calm himself down enough to change back, longer to get his brain back on track with the conversation. Foggy’s polite silence on the matter, a relief at first, becomes more and more annoying each time. Or maybe Matt’s just so frustrated he wants an excuse to yell at someone.

“Say it,” he grits out finally, after Shifting feline and back for the third time.

“Say what?”

“Whatever it is you’re dying to say.”

Foggy pauses, then says, “I think I’m done eating. You want me to put all the leftovers together in the fridge?”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Matt says as Foggy stands and starts packing up the remaining food.

“Jesus, Matt.” Foggy slams the fridge shut. “I’m worried about you, okay? I’m worried that you’re going to Shift in public, and I’m worried that there are going to be other side effects, and I’m worried about this lunatic you’ve got on your tail.” He shrugs. “But you don’t want to hear it, so what the hell am I supposed to say?”

“That’s it?” Matt says. “No ‘I told you so’?”

He has the feeling Foggy’s rolling his eyes. “I don’t think I ever told you to look out for anti-Shifter blow darts from crazed Russian bounty hunters, so no, I guess that one’s on me.”

“Right,” Matt says. “So after all those months of hounding me about being Daredevil, now you’ve got nothing to say about it?”

“What do you want from me, Matt?” Foggy snaps. “You’re mad if I tell you you’re gonna get yourself killed, and you’re mad if I don’t. Yeah, I still wish you weren’t Daredevil, okay? I wish you were still the normal, nerdy, _sane_ Matt I always thought you were…”

“Who wasn’t a Shifter, right?” Matt interrupts.

“Who hadn’t _lied_ to me!” Foggy shoots back. “For fuck’s sake, Matt, I get why you didn’t tell me at first, but for eight years? I took you home to my family, I went into debt with you - Christ, you were the first person I came out to and you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me any of it? The Shifting, the senses, the fighting - _nothing?_ ”

“Was I wrong?” Matt asks. “You’ve been mad at me since you found out. You just said you wished I wasn’t Daredevil!”

“Because you’re gonna get yourself killed!” Foggy says.

“I know what I’m doing, Foggy.”

“Please, you can barely keep yourself on two legs right now!”

“And the others are so much better?” Matt asks, too frustrated to hold in what he knows is a petty complaint anymore. “You barely even _know_ them. That Rand kid, he’s what, twenty-two? But you trust _them_ to know what they’re doing and not me?”

“It’s different,” Foggy says.

“Why? Because none of them are blind?”

“No! Jesus, Matt.”

“Then _why_ \- ”

“Because I’m not _in love_ with any of them!” Foggy shouts. “Because yeah, they’re my friends and I care about them, but if one of them dies on the street it won’t be the end of my entire world!”

Matt tries to splutter _“What?”_ but he’s already Shifting, shrinking down to Foggy’s ankle height before he can grab him and shake him and make him repeat himself.

He concentrates. He needs to Shift back. Foggy is trembling palpably above him, his heart racing a mile a minute.

Foggy _loves him._

Nothing happens. Matt can’t get a handle on his human form, can’t even focus enough to try. _Whatever this is, it’s triggered by stress,_ Claire had said. Matt’s under plenty of stress now.

“Are you…” Foggy’s voice breaks. He takes a deep breath and tries again. “Are you staying like that to get out of this conversation, or are you stuck?”

Matt yowls, puts his front paws on Foggy’s knee and hollers at him as loud as he can, tail lashing in frustration. He doesn’t want out of this conversation. He wants to keep fighting. He wants to keep digging. He wants to - 

Foggy _loves him._

“All right. All right. Shit.” Foggy rakes his hands through his hair. “Claire said stress makes it worse, so let’s just...stop yelling for a minute and calm down.” He stands there for a minute, posture exuding helplessness. Matt keeps his front paws on Foggy’s knee, like if he stops touching him Foggy will vanish.

“Fuck. I’m getting another beer,” Foggy says finally. “You probably can’t have any, huh? I guess I could pour some out in a little bowl…”

Matt lets his claws poke through the knee of Foggy’s pants - not enough to scratch him, just enough to show what he thinks of drinking beer out of a bowl on the floor.

“Okay, okay.” Foggy unhooks Matt’s claws from his pant leg and fetches a beer from the fridge. He takes a few aimless steps around the kitchen before apparently giving up and sinking down on the couch with a sigh like he’s just hauled himself across fifty miles of desert and knows he has fifty more to go.

Matt hops up on Foggy’s knee, sits, and stares at him expectantly.

Foggy takes a long pull of his beer. “What?” he asks finally. “You can’t want to...to talk about this. You can’t talk, period.”

Matt meows.

“That’s not really the same thing. God, I should have known you’d be argumentative even as a cat,” Foggy says dryly. “I mean, what is there to talk about? It’s not like you didn’t already know.”

Matt makes a loud protest, and tries to shake his head. It feels weird in this body, but it gets the point across.

“You didn’t?” Foggy asks, heart rate picking up, and Matt chirrups. Of course he didn’t know. If he’d known, he would have...he’d…

Well, he doesn’t know what he would have done, but he would have done _something_.

“Ah, shit,” Foggy says. Matt has rarely heard him sound so defeated. He hates it.

After a long moment, Foggy sighs again. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter either way,” he says. “It’s not like there’s a friendship left to ruin.”

Matt’s ears droop.

“Come on, Matt,” Foggy says, clearly trying to force some levity into his voice. “That part you definitely knew.”

Matt couldn’t argue with that even if he had the ability to speak right now. But Foggy’s here right now and - and _loves him_ \- and if Matt can’t talk this through or drink a beer or even open a door right now, he’s not entirely helpless.

He walks up Foggy’s thigh and butts his head against Foggy’s soft chest, right over his heart. “Matt,” Foggy says, a little broken, and Matt can smell saline in the air.

He butts Foggy’s chest again, puts his paws up on it and noses up towards his face like he can look him in the eye, like he’s not blind in this form too. Foggy lets out a shaky breath and smooths a hand over Matt’s head, and Matt purrs for all he’s worth. He sounds rusty to his own ears - he hasn’t had occasion to purr much, not since lazy afternoons curled in a patch of sunlight with Elektra, tails tangled together - but he can do this. He can’t speak and he doesn’t know what he would say if he could, but he can try to show Foggy how proud and astonished and unworthy he is to be loved be him.

“God, you should have just done this ages ago,” Foggy says. “It’s impossible to be mad at you right now. And very hard to be embarrassed. Not that I can’t be embarrassed in front of a cat. My Great-Aunt Millie’s cat Reginald had a very judgmental eye.”

He scratches under Matt’s chin and Matt tilts his head to the side to give him better access and purrs louder. He hasn’t had this in so long, and never from Foggy. Some Shifters say that Shifters shouldn’t indulge in the pleasures their animal forms bring them, because it reduces them to nothing _but_ animals. They have human brains and can overcome the desire to chase a string or catch a ball or run across an open field, just as they can ignore the urge to bite or scratch or shy at loud noises.

But Matt has as many feline instincts as he does human ones, and right now he’s being held by someone who loves him.

He’d suspected, in a distant and sheltered sort of way, that Foggy had had a crush on him when they first met, but by the time Matt had figured out how to confidently identify interest from men, Foggy had stopped giving off any of those signals. Sure, Foggy jokes about Matt being handsome all the time - or he used to - but he also regularly calls Karen a ray of sunlight in kitten heels, and introduces Brett to people as “the handsomest cop in New York (who I hate).” Receiving a compliment from Foggy Nelson is not hard work.

But this is different. Matt’s used to having people be attracted to him, but anyone who could truly know him, all the secret and shameful parts of him, and still love him...well, he always imagined anyone like that would have to be as damaged as him. Like Elektra.

Foggy’s love is something he wouldn’t know what to do with under the best of circumstances. There’s no question in Matt’s mind that he cares for Foggy. Foggy was his best friend - sometimes more like his center of gravity - and being without him has been like the phantom ache of an old injury.

But he never stopped to wonder what he’d do with Foggy’s heart if he had it. Why hope for something he knew he’d never earn?

He doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep in Foggy’s lap until his soft, comfortable bed moves under him. He startles, claws digging in a little to keep his perch.

“Yowch,” Foggy says, and Matt withdraws his claws guilty, stepping off of Foggy’s lap and onto the couch as Foggy stands. “It’s okay, you just poked me. I didn’t mean to wake you, but I should probably get ready for bed. Any luck on Shifting back?”

Matt had almost forgotten. He concentrates, but his human form feels just as out of reach as it did before. He lashes his tail, frustrated again.

Foggy sighs. “I’ll take that as a no. Fuck. Okay, well, it’s too late to call Claire right now and there’s not going to be anything she can do about it anyway. If you’re still stuck in the morning I’ll bring you up to see her, I guess. But I gotta get some sleep.”

Matt nods, then settles back down on the couch. Even with Foggy’s residual body heat it feels cold.

Foggy pauses in the doorway of Matt’s bedroom. “You know, the bed’s big enough for two, especially if one of the two weighs eight pounds,” he says. “And it _is_ yours.”

Matt blinks, then hops down from the couch and trots into the bedroom. He’s not sure if Foggy’s only willing to be this affectionate with him while he’s stuck in cat form and if he’ll go back to being furious with Matt when he finally Shifts back, but he’ll take it for as long as it lasts.

Foggy strips down his boxers and pulls on his t-shirt, then goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Matt hesitates by the bed. What if he Shifts back in the night?

There’s a noise from outside, oddly close to the window. Matt tilts his head as he walks closer, trying to zero in on it - 

“Don’t tell me you’re planning on going out like that,” Foggy says, coming back into the bedroom.

Matt gives him an indignant chirp. He’s not a _complete_ idiot.

Foggy sprawls out in the center of the bed. Matt pauses, then hops up and curls up on the pillow beside Foggy’s head.

“What are we gonna do, Matty?” Foggy asks the ceiling, and Matt doesn’t think he’s talking about Kraven. Either way, he doesn’t have an answer.


	4. The path we came by, thorn and flower

Matt wakes up to the warmth of the morning sun on his face. He pushes back the blanket before realizing that he did it with his hand - that he’s Shifted back to human during the night.

He sits up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Foggy’s not in the bed or, a cursory scan with ears and nose tells him, anywhere else in the apartment. He reaches for his phone and discovers that he has a voicemail waiting for him.

_“Hi, Matt. I feel stupid taking your phone into the living room to call it from my phone, but I didn’t want to wake you, so, uh. Stupid it is. You’re back to human right now so I’m going home to take a shower and get a change of clothes, and then I’m going to have to call the office and tell them...I don’t know, something. Call me when you get this. Yeah. Bye.”_

Matt stretches, enjoying the full range of motion in his human shoulders, and heads into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. While he waits for it to brew, he calls Foggy, but it goes straight to voicemail. Foggy must’ve gotten caught up in something with work - if he was at the office so late last night, his workload must be punishing.

“Hey, Fog, it’s me. I’m up. Call me back when you can,” Matt says, drops the phone onto the kitchen table, and sits down to wait.

While he sips his coffee, he tries to figure out his next steps. He knows that both Foggy and Claire will say he shouldn’t go into the office when there’s a chance he might abruptly Shift on the street or in front of a client, and as much as he hates to admit it, they’re probably right. And it’s not like he could do much to track Kraven down in the daylight even if he weren’t at risk of suddenly ending up on four legs.

Still, he can’t just do _nothing_ , not while Kraven is still loose in Hell’s Kitchen. He thinks he heard someone say that last night that Jessica is a private investigator - maybe Foggy can get in touch with her and she can help Matt track his credit cards or hotel reservations or _something_. A man that out of the ordinary has to leave a trail.

His phone rings. Not his regular cell - his burner, still tucked into the pocket of his suit.

Probably Claire, calling to check on his condition. He goes into the bedroom and digs out the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, Daredevil.”

It’s not Claire - it’s Jessica. That’s convenient, certainly, but Matt doesn’t trust convenience. “Jessica? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Romeo, I just need to talk to Nelson about a case. He must’ve forgotten to charge his phone while you two were banging it out last night, it’s going straight to voicemail. Put him on, would ya?”

Matt feels an anxious prickle on the back of his neck. “He’s not here,” he says. He doesn’t bother to clarify that Jessica’s assumptions about them are wrong, because it turns out she might have read that particular dynamic more accurately than he did. “He left to shower and get a change of clothes. I figured he got caught up in something at home, or at the office.”

“Well, he’s not at his office, because that’s where I am, and Hogarth says he didn’t call out,” Jessica says. “He take extra-long showers or something?”

The anxiety prickle worsens. “No - ” Matt starts to say, and then drops the phone with a clatter as he Shifts. He lets out a furious, frustrated hiss.

“What was that?” Jessica asks, voice tinny now that the phone’s further away. “Did you just Shift again? Look, Danny knows where Nelson lives, I’ll send him over to check and send Claire to you. Stay put, okay?”

Matt lets out an indignant meow. As if he’d stay cowering in his apartment when Foggy might be in trouble. He’s already moving towards the window, but he can still hear Jessica.

“Daredevil? Daredevil, I said stay there, Danny can - goddammit!”

In warm enough weather, Matt always leaves his window open enough to squeeze in through it after patrol if he doesn’t feel like going in through the roof. He bolts down the fire escape and down the street towards Foggy’s, making pedestrians jump out of the way and cars screech to a halt. The roofs would be safer, but he can’t make it across the gaps between streets at this size.

By the time he reaches Foggy’s his lungs are burning. This body is designed for sprints, not running eight blocks at full speed. Still, he powers his way up the fire escape, ignoring the way it aches to move.

He knows Foggy’s not there long before he reaches Foggy’s floor, but he prowls back and forth along the ledge outside Foggy’s three windows anyway as if it’ll help. No voice, no footsteps, no steady pulse of Foggy’s heart.

He tells himself not to worry, that there’s any number of rational reasons why Foggy’s not at work or home or Matt’s, with his phone turned off when he told Matt to call.

But Foggy wouldn’t abandon Matt when Matt needs him. Not even if he’s still furious with Matt. Not if he loves him.

There’s a knock at the front door to Foggy’s apartment. “Foggy?” Danny calls. “You in there, man?”

Matt meows, knowing Danny can’t hear him through the window and the door. Danny knocks again - and then there’s an explosion that nearly startles Matt off his ledge, and Foggy’s front door swings open.

“Foggy? Sorry about your door, dude…” Danny says, walking into the apartment and peering around.

Matt yowls again, louder. This time Danny hears it. He opens the window and Matt hops inside.

“Daredevil? I hope?” Danny says. “I already broke Foggy’s door, I probably shouldn’t let some random cat into his apartment. I’m gonna pay for the door, by the way.”

Matt lets out a frustrated _fft_ and starts sniffing around the apartment. His nose isn’t any better in this form than in his human body, but it’s still good enough to tell him that the scents he’s picking up are a day stale. Foggy hasn’t been home since yesterday morning.

“Oh, are we smelling stuff?” Danny asks, and Shifts. He noses around the furniture and the baseboards, getting in Matt’s way and nearly stepping on his tail. _Dogs._

Danny Shifts back. “I don’t think he’s been here since yesterday,” he says.

Matt yowls. He _knows_ that.

He takes a deep breath. Getting angry at Danny isn’t going to help him figure out where Foggy is any sooner - but _talking_ to him might. He counts to ten, concentrates, and manages to Shift.

“Oh, hey, I know you,” Danny says, and Matt abruptly realizes that he’d been wearing boxers and a t-shirt when he’d Shifted to cat and is still wearing just that - and more importantly, no mask. “Foggy has a picture of you in his office. Murdock, right?”

Matt doesn’t know what to do with the fact that Foggy still has a picture of him up, but he doesn’t have time to try to process it right now. “Yes,” he says.

“Cool, I know who Daredevil is!” Danny pauses. “Wait, aren’t you blind? How do you fight crime if you’re blind? Are you blind as a cat too? Where did you train, because my girlfriend and I were watching some cell phone footage of you on YouTube and we’ve never seen anyone mix aikido with krav maga like - ”

“Danny.” Matt takes another deep breath. “Listen. Foggy left me a message this morning saying he was stopping by his place to pick up a change of clothes, but he clearly never made it. Jessica says he’s not at his office, either. I’m worried. Is he in the middle of any dangerous cases?”

“Jess would know that better than I would,” Danny says.

“All right,” Matt says, and comes to a decision. He doesn’t know these people, doesn’t know if he can trust them - but _Foggy_ trusts them, and Foggy might be in danger. Matt would swear to being Daredevil in _court_ if Foggy needed him to.

“Can you tell her and Luke to meet us at my apartment?” he asks. “Claire, too. Here’s my address.”

*

Half an hour later they’re all in Matt’s living room. There’s still no word from Foggy. Matt’s Shifted to cat three times unintentionally - and once on purpose, to get back to his apartment quickly and not in his underwear - and back to human only with great difficulty every time. He’s wearing his suit now, since he doesn’t know when the next Shift will strike, and he’d rather not be caught out in his boxers again. His helmet’s off, though, since his secret’s out with this group anyway.

He’s also gone ahead and sent the awkward texts to Karen, to Marci, to Foggy’s parents. None of them have heard from him.

“Hogarth can’t think of anything he’s working on that would put a target on his back,” Jessica says, hanging up her phone and dropping it on Matt’s couch. “And he still hasn’t checked in with her or his assistant.”

“Try not to jump to any conclusions,” Claire says before Matt can answer. “There could be a logical explanation.”

“I don’t know, Nelson’s pretty reliable,” Luke says. From the swish of her hair as she turns towards him, Matt suspects she’s giving him a look. “What? I’m just being realistic.”

“If you know where he keeps his bills and things, I can try tracking his credit cards - ” Jessica starts to say to Matt, when Matt’s cell phone rings.

_Foggy. Foggy. Foggy._

Matt scrambles to answer it. “Foggy? Fog, are you okay?”

“Good morning, Comrade Daredevil,” says a familiar voice.

“ _Kraven_ ,” Matt manages to growl before he Shifts and drops the phone.

Jessica scrambles for it and puts it on speaker as the others jump to their feet. “ - to be remembered,” Kraven is says. “I trust you are enjoying my little gift to you?”

“Where’s Nelson, you circus reject?” Jessica demands.

“Ah, is that the lovely Ms. Jones?” Kraven asks. “Are Mr. Cage and Mr. Rand there too? I have been doing the research, you see.”

“If you’ve hurt Foggy, you’re going to be in big trouble,” Danny says, not particularly intimidatingly. Matt hisses at the phone but suspects that’s not intimidating either.

“I am assuring you, Mr. Nelson is perfectly fine. I am having no intention of hurting him,” Kraven says. “Here, I send you proof.”

The phone dings with a new text alert. Jessica swipes it open. “It’s a picture of Foggy,” she says. “Looks a little rumpled and his hands are tied behind his back, but he looks fine otherwise. Kinda grumpy.”

Foggy’s okay. For now. Matt’s not sure whether to collapse in relief or claw everyone in the room until they get Kraven to tell him where Foggy is.

“You should be very proud of your lover,” Kraven says. Matt’s too frightened and furious to be embarrassed. “He would not say one word about your identity. Of course, I am tracking you back to your home long before I am capturing him, I am already knowing all about you, but it was very noble.”

“What do you want?” Luke asks, cutting to the chase.

“Why, the same thing I am wanting from beginning,” Kraven says, sounding surprised. “To deliver Daredevil to my client.”

“So why did you take _Foggy?_ ” Danny asks.

“Are Americans unfamiliar with concept of the bait?” Kraven asks. “Or the exchange? Daredevil turns himself over to me for delivery to Ms. Marianna, and Mr. Nelson goes free. It is very simple.”

“And we’re just supposed to trust you?” Jessica asks.

“I would prefer if you did, but frankly you are not really having a choice,” Kraven replies. “I have Mr. Nelson. If you want him back, Daredevil must turn himself over to me.”

Jessica turns her face away from the phone and mutters a curse under her breath.

Kraven probably heard it, but continues as if he didn’t. “The rest of you can come along as the insurance, if you are wanting to. We will make the exchange at midnight at the Bethesda Fountain in the Central Park. Goodbye.”

He hangs up. Matt bristles, tail lashing, hissing and spitting at the phone as if it’ll do any good. As if it’ll get him Foggy back.

“Well, that answers one question,” Claire says. Matt starts for the window. “Hey! Where are you going?”

Matt yowls at her. Isn’t it obvious? He’s going to get Foggy back.

“He said midnight, Matt. It’s barely noon. They’re not there yet,” Claire says.

“But a million tourists _are_ ,” Jessica adds. “Slow down and think for two seconds, Hornhead.”

“Can you try to Shift back?” Claire asks.

As if Matt hasn’t been trying to do that this whole time. He hunches down and concentrates. Nothing happens.

“You gotta center yourself, dude,” Danny says. “Take a deep breath and ground yourself into the Earth.”

Matt lays his ears flat against his skull and hisses at him.

“Okay, whoa, sorry.”

“We have over twelve hours,” Claire says, her voice calm and firm. “Nothing is going to happen to Foggy until then. I saw the picture. He looks fine. Don’t rush it, just...breathe. Let it happen.”

Matt lets his claws slip back in and unlocks his spine. He takes a long, slow breath, then three, and Shifts.

“I’m getting Foggy back,” he says as soon as he can speak again. “I don’t care what any of you say. As soon as the sun goes down, I’m going to the park.”

“No one one’s planning on cutting Foggy loose, Daredevil,” Luke says. “We all owe him. We’re not gonna leave him hanging.”

“I’m worried about you going in there, though,” Claire says. “The toxin Kraven injected you with doesn’t seem to be wearing off.”

“Yeah, one cat to another, you won’t be much good if you’re stuck on four legs for the fight,” Jessica says.

“Any progress on an antidote?” Matt asks.

Claire shakes her head. “I got the lab techs at Rand to break down your blood sample for me, but I’m no chemist. We couldn’t even identify all the components of the toxin. One seems to be a catalyst, one’s high in gamma radiation, of course...one of them looks like South African frog venom, of all things, but carrying the Shifter genetic trace.”

“Wait, does that mean there’s a poison dart frog Shifter out there?” Danny asks. “Cool.”

“Unless Kraven killed him,” Jessica points out.

“Oh,” Danny says. “Less cool.”

“I can tell you is that the proportions are so small that this should be out of your system in a couple of days,” Claire goes on, “but that doesn’t help Foggy.”

“So you don’t have _anything?_ ” Matt asks. He knows he’s being unfair, especially when he’s already asked so much of Claire, but - this is _Foggy_.

She sighs. “I can give you something to counteract the catalyst, but it’s risky when we don’t know everything in the toxin. Or it might not do anything at all.”

“I’ll take it,” Matt says immediately. He trusts Claire, and he can’t stand this uncontrolled Shifting.

“I still don’t think you should go,” Claire says. “Look, Matt, I know how much Foggy means to you, but you’re not the only one who can help him right now, okay? And you’ve got bulletproof skin, super strength and flight, and a magic fist in this room,” she adds, pointing to the others in turn.

Jessica waggles her hand in the air noncommittally. “It’s more like...advanced jumping.”

“I don’t _care_ ,” Matt says. “I don’t care if I’m a cat the whole time, I don’t care if - I’m going. It’s _Foggy_.”

He clenches his fists and Jessica snorts. “Before you try to fight your way through us, Whiskers, do you want to hear what I _didn’t_ mention when I was describing Nelson’s photo?”

Matt blinks. “What?”

“I know where he is.”

Matt’s so surprised he Shifts. He ignores it, pushing forward and nudging at Jessica’s hand. She’s a cat Shifter, she’ll know what he’s saying.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she says, pushing his face away but petting him a little as she does. “You know all those maintenance buildings in the park? Where they keep the little golf carts and the lawnmowers and, I don’t know, fertilizer and whatever? I had to, uh, let myself into one of those once, for a case. I’m pretty sure that’s where Nelson is.”

Matt makes a colossal effort and Shifts again. “Let’s go,” he says, pulling his helmet on.

“Maybe you should sit this one out,” Luke suggests. “You’re not really in fighting condition.”

“Yeah, we’ll get Foggy back for you,” Danny says.

“I’m not staying behind,” Matt insists. “It’s Foggy. He’s _my_ …” Jessica makes an interested noise. “...friend,” he finishes, even though it’s not the best word right now. They might be more than that. They might be less.

“He’s our friend too,” Luke says, but Claire’s already shaking her head.

“Give it up, Luke,” she says. “I know that look on his face. There’s no talking him out of this.”

“But - ”

“And don’t pretend you don’t get that look too,” she adds.

Luke throws up his hands, apparently giving up, and Matt turns to Claire. “You said you could give me something to counteract the toxin.”

“I said it _might_ ,” she says. “It might also do nothing. Or it could give you a heart attack.”

“I’ll risk it,” Matt says.

“Obviously,” she replies. She slings her bag off her shoulder and pulls out a medical kit. “Glove off. I need a vein.”

“Well, this turned into a party,” Jessica drawls, as Matt pulls his glove off and yanks his sleeve up enough to give Claire access to his inner wrist. “Hey, while you’re getting your jollies there, do you have an actual plan?”

Matt’s starting to figure out how to read Jessica. “Do you?” he asks.

“I might,” she says. “It depends on whether you’re about to have a heart attack, though.”

Claire blows her hair out of her face and picks up Matt’s hand. He can feel her pulse fluttering through her skin. She’s nervous.

That probably means Matt should be nervous too, but he’s not. This will get Foggy back. That’s all that matters.

“You sure about this?” Claire asks, laying the sharp point of the needle against Matt’s skin.

Matt nods. “Yeah,” he says. “Do it.”

He barely flinches as the needle breaks skin. “Here goes nothing,” Claire says, and presses the plunger down.


	5. And he the much-beloved again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daredevil Bingo square: "raise hell."

Matt does not have a heart attack. He does, however, pass out for about twenty minutes.

When he wakes up, he’s still human, lying on his couch with his helmet off and his chest plate open to give him air. “Welcome back,” Claire says, sounding relieved. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” he says, trying to sit up and managing it on the second try. Claire makes a disbelieving sound. “Okay, a little woozy, but it’ll pass.”

“I assume you speak from copious experience of being shot up with poison dart frog venom?” Jessica asks. Matt ignores her.

He’s right, though - after a few minutes the dizziness subsides, and once he eats and drinks it’s gone almost entirely. More importantly, he’s back in control of his Shifting, even if there’s a bit of a delay that wasn’t there before. Which means they can go after Foggy now.

It’s still broad daylight and the park is full of people, which means that Luke and Danny, both of whom have been on TV enough to be widely recognizable, will have to Shift. “No one’ll pay attention to an ordinary woman walking her dogs,” Jessica explains. “I mean, they might wonder why you’re off-leash, but…”

“You’re not putting a collar on me,” Luke says, sounding half amused and half irritated.

“I know, I know,” she says, holding her hands up. “Clearly Murdock’s the kinky one. It’s fine, I’ll just pretend I’m an obnoxious hippie who thinks her dogs are better behaved than they are.”

Danny nods. “Ooh! You should bring a ball to throw. You know. In case we have some extra time.”

“Focus, Dan,” Luke mutters.

Since Jessica will _definitely_ draw attention if she’s walking a cat - or walking around with a fully suited-up Daredevil - Matt is forced to Shift, climb into a tote bag he keeps around for groceries, and try not to move too much. It’s fairly humiliating, and the scent of garlic in the bag makes his nose itch. Still, it’s a small price to pay to get Foggy back.

“I don’t know how long the antitoxin will last, so you’d better get this done quickly,” Claire warns before they leave. “And the more you Shift, the faster it’ll burn through your system.”

“Don’t worry,” Luke says, and leans in to kiss her. “He’s got backup this time.”

Just as Jessica had bargained on, no one spares them a second glance as they walk to the park and across to the storage facility. Luke walks close to Jessica’s side, while Danny trots a little bit ahead, tongue out and tail wagging. Matt huddles inside the tote bag and hopes that no one can tell there’s something alive inside, that they can find Foggy quickly, that he’s not more hurt than Jessica could see in the photo. That he’ll have the chance to tell Foggy everything he should have told him years ago.

Jessica moves fast, and they’re at the maintenance buildings behind the Boathouse before Matt can get too fidgety. He can sense Jessica pausing and looking around to see if anyone’s watching her before ducking into what’s presumably an off-limits area between two of the outbuildings. Luke and Danny follow.

Matt sits upright in his bag. Under the sound of people eating and talking at the Boathouse Restaurant and the splashing of oars from the lake, he can hear Foggy’s heartbeat, strong and clear.

Luke and Danny nose along the buildings before Shifting back. Jessica puts the tote bag down so Matt can climb out and do the same.

“Foggy’s in that one,” Luke says, pointing to the middle building, and Danny nods.

“I know,” Matt says.

“How?” Danny asks. “I mean, no offense, but you’ve only got a cat’s nose.”

Jessica bristles. “And you’ve only got a dog’s - ” she starts, but Matt cuts her off.

“I just do,” he says. He hasn’t told them much about his senses, and now isn’t the time. “Does it matter? We all agree. Can we just do this?”

“Yeah,” Jessica says. “Anyone smell Kraven?”

Luke shakes his head. “The whole place stinks of him, but it’s stale. He’s not here.”

Matt nods. There’s only one heartbeat in that building.

“Right, let’s go,” Jessica says.

They make their way around to the door. It’s locked, but that doesn’t make much difference to Matt’s companions; Luke gives the handle a firm twist, and the lock falls apart with a dull jangle of metal.

Luke pushes the door open and they file in behind him. And there’s - there’s _Foggy_ , wrists handcuffed to the u-bend of a utility sink. He smells like hunger and stale sweat but not blood, and his heart beats steady and strong. _Foggy._

Matt pushes past Luke, even though he knows he’ll need Luke or Jessica to get the cuffs off of Foggy. He needs to touch him. He needs to know he’s okay.

Foggy’s heartbeat picks up and he makes a muffled noise. He must be gagged, which makes sense - it’s a busy park and people would hear him calling for help.

He gets louder as Matt gets closer, louder and more frantic as Matt touches his face, finds the rag tied around his head and tugs it down - 

“ - get out of here, it’s a trap, _go_ \- !”

Foggy’s shouts are suddenly drowned out as a high-pitched whistle splits the air. Matt doubles over, clapping his hands over his ears, but the shrieking goes right through them, driving into his brain like a needle. Disoriented, he can just make out Luke and Danny staggering. Jessica seems to be holding up the best, stumbling mostly upright towards Foggy and breaking his cuffs in half.

Despite his throbbing head and the vertigo making his stomach swoop, Matt tries to focus. The sound is coming from the corner of the building, some kind of small electronic device. He makes his way towards it, lurches, stomps down on it. The pitch changes to something worse, more dissonant, and he can’t choke back a gasp of pain, but he stomps down again, again, and then - blessed silence.

“Ma - Daredevil,” Foggy says.

The door opens and Kraven lobs something through - something about the size of a baseball, hissing smoke that makes Matt’s nose sting and his eyes water. Luke lunges at Kraven but Shifts halfway through and stumbles, letting out a surprised whine. Kraven steps aside easily and Luke’s jaws close on the empty air next to Kraven’s elbow.

“Did you think me a fool?” Kraven asks. “That I would not be prepared? Preparation is the hunter’s greatest tool. You study prey, you bait trap, and then…” He steps inside and closes the door behind him. “You spring it.”

“God, shut _up_ ,” Jessica says, coughing and wiping her eyes before she swings at him. She Shifts halfway through, skittering across the floor and out of his grip in a clatter of unsheathed claws.

Danny whines, already Shifted, staggers forward and falls. Luke’s close behind him, dragging himself towards Kraven before his back legs give up entirely.

“Luke! Danny!” Foggy says. He’s on his feet now, backed up against the sink. Matt tries to edge between him and Kraven. It’s getting harder to focus, harder to hold his shape. “What the hell did you do to them?”

“Don’t worry, it is not fatal,” Kraven says. “Just an airborne variation on what I am giving your friend Daredevil last night, with a few adjustments. This variation is particularly inimical to the canines.”

Luke growls and drags himself forward another foot. Danny seems to be out of it completely.

“You are having a remarkable constitution, Mr. Cage,” Kraven says, then turns to Matt, who dances out of the way. His eyes are streaming but it’s not a problem aside from the discomfort; he can still pinpoint Kraven. “As are you, Mr. Murdock. You should have been trapped in your Shifted form hours ago. Instead you are the last one on the two legs.”

“I had a friend put something together for me,” Matt grits out. It’s taking everything he has to keep his fingers from turning into claws. “Wasn’t gonna let your bullshit stop me.”

“Your friend is quite clever,” Kraven says.

“I’ll tell her you said so once you’re in jail,” Matt replies. “Foggy, get to the door.”

Foggy starts to edge towards the door. Kraven moves to block him - and Jessica darts across the room, still in cat form. Kraven snatches up a net from a nearby table and catches her up in it, then swings the loaded net around into the wall. Jessica’s small body hits with an alarming _thud_. When Kraven lets the net go, she doesn’t move.

“Jessica!” Foggy says, and Luke tries to push up again.

Matt lunges for Kraven. But his aim is off and he barely clips Kraven’s jaw with his fist. Kraven ducks, drives his shoulder into Matt’s solar plexus and his fist into Matt’s stomach. As the air whooshes painfully out of Matt’s lungs, he Shifts.

“I would recommend giving up at this point, Mr. Murdock,” Kraven says as Matt struggles to get his breath. The smoke’s not affecting him as badly as it has Luke or Danny, but it’s not at all pleasant, and his breaths are faster and shallower as a cat, so he’s pulling it into his lungs quicker. “I do not wish to be hurting you but you are very small and it may be unavoidable if you fight.”

Matt lays his ears back and hisses.

Kraven laughs. “You are bold, little kitten, but you are beaten. You cannot Shift and the smoke is surely blinding you by now. Your allies are down and your lover is useless. Spare them further harm and come quietly.”

So there’s one thing Kraven hasn’t figured out about Matt by now. Matt leaps - and Kraven backhands him in midair, sending him flying painfully into the side of the metal sink. He drops in a heap.

“No!” Foggy cries, and hurls himself at Kraven. In his dazed, dizzied state Matt can sense Foggy getting in a not-bad-at-all left hook before Kraven shoves him off and clocks him in the eye. Foggy staggers.

“Get _off_ ,” Kraven says. “I am being paid to bring Daredevil in alive but the same does not hold true for you, you soft and sedentary man.”

Matt’s world on fire goes up in flames.

Heedless of his disorientation, of his bruised and fragile body, of Kraven’s vast size compared to him, he hurtles forward. Kraven hurt Foggy.

Foggy is Matt’s _pack_.

Digging his claws deep into Kraven’s pant leg to the flesh beneath, he races up Kraven’s body. Kraven’s chest and arms are bare and Matt takes the opportunity to scratch at them, carving deep, bloody furrows in his skin.

Kraven howls with pain and tries to fling Matt off, but Matt clings to the vest he’s wearing - a fur vest and no shirt, what on Earth must he look like? - and ducks around his arm and up onto his shoulder, teeth bared, reaching for Kraven’s jugular, for his eyes. Kraven curses in Russian, twisting and turning to try to grab him, but Matt’s everywhere at once and all sharpness and fury. Every time bare flesh comes within reach Matt lays it open with teeth and claws. The air is thick with the smell of blood under that dizzying smoke, and all of it’s Kraven’s.

“Foul beast!” Kraven shouts, and finally grabs Matt around the middle, crushingly tight. Matt claws wildly at his arms with his hind legs, sinks his teeth into Kraven’s bloody hands over and over again, but though Kraven hisses and swears, he doesn’t let go.

He storms over to an open cage and shoves Matt inside. Matt tries to spring out but Kraven slams the door shut and holds it in place with his foot while he closes the lock.

Matt hisses and spits, clawing at the bars, heedless of his aching ribs. His mouth is full of blood and his head is full of fire, but he’s trapped. Even if he _could_ calm himself enough to Shift, the cage isn’t big enough to hold a man. He’d crush himself trying.

Kraven grabs the pack lying in the corner and pulls out a cloth of some kind. He soaks it in water at the utility sink and wipes his face, hissing in pain as he does.

The minute his face is covered, Foggy makes a run for it, snatching up Matt’s cage and kicking the door open. Kraven drops the towel and unholsters a weapon, aiming it at Foggy. “Do not move, Mr. Nelson.”

Foggy freezes. Inside his cage, Matt does the same.

“I am not taking this assignment to kill anyone, but your friend Mr. Murdock has put me in the very unhappy mood,” Kraven says. “Put cage down or I will am being forced to do something I will regret. Only mild regret, you understand, but regret all the same.”

“I’m not letting you take Matt,” Foggy says. His hand, holding the cage, is shaking, but his voice is steady. “And the air’s getting clearer as we speak. How long does your anti-Shifter smoke bomb last? Do you really want to shoot me and then have to deal with Luke?”

“Are you threatening me?” Kraven asks. He sounds amused, but the gun is still in his hand. Matt’s not foolish enough to hope it’s something as relatively harmless as what _he_ was shot with.

“I’m a lawyer,” Foggy says. “I don’t threaten. I argue.”

“I am the world’s greatest hunter,” Kraven says. “The arguments of small-minded pencil pushers do not move me.”

“The world’s greatest hunter?” Foggy repeats. “See, that’s funny, since here I was thinking you were just Vanessa Marianna’s _pet_.”

Kraven’s temperature ticks up an angry notch, and Matt tenses. What is Foggy doing?

“Watch your mouth, little man,” Kraven says. “Sergei Kravinoff is no woman’s pet.”

“Okay, first of all, sexist,” Foggy says. “But also, really? Because from where I stand, you were doing fuck-all until Vanessa aimed you at Matt.”

“I am not standing here and being lectured by - ”

“And _I’m_ not going to let you take my best friend back to your master like a good little bird dog,” Foggy retorts. “Would the world’s greatest hunter come running at someone else’s beck and call? Would he take a _commission?_ Where’s the glory in that? Matt says you’re after the Hulk, yet here you are getting your ass kicked by a common _housecat_ , for a _fee_. Some mighty hunter.”

Matt tries to growl warningly at Foggy. Why is he antagonizing the man pointing a gun at him?

Behind Kraven, Luke stirs.

“You can shoot me right now if you want,” Foggy goes on. Matt makes a low noise of protest. “I can’t stop you. But what good will it do you? I’m not big game. I’m not even a Shifter. I’m just a pencil pusher, like you said. Shoot me and take Matt, but it won’t win you any laurels. It’ll just make it harder for you to get out of the country. Not the world’s greatest hunter, but a hired killer.”

Kraven pauses. “There are...financial realities to what I do,” he says.

“Yeah, you and everyone else,” Foggy replies. “Speaking as someone who chose money over a dream, let me tell you: there’s not a day that goes by I don’t wonder if I can take it back.”

Matt starts. He knows this tone of Foggy’s voice: this is Franklin Nelson, Esq., the best debater in their year at Columbia Law and a rising star in New York’s legal world. When he’s in this mode, there’s not a word that comes out of his mouth that he hasn’t examined from every angle, that he hasn’t laid down as carefully as a mason laying down the stones of his masterpiece. Foggy wouldn’t say this in Matt’s presence if he didn’t want him to hear it.

Luke’s lifting his head now, and Danny’s moving too. Even Jessica is stirring, still wrapped up in her net. Foggy’s not just working his rhetorical magic on Kraven and confessing something - Matt’s still not sure what - to Matt. He’s buying them time.

“So you tell me,” Foggy says. “Are you going to be as soft and useless as me and trade your honor for cash? Or is Sergei Kravinoff going to be the man he says he is?”

For a long moment Kraven doesn’t respond. Matt waits with bated breath, desperately wishing for a way out of his cage. Kraven is utterly motionless, and Matt begins to understand how this man kept them all from hearing him until it was too late, how he can stay crouched and ready until his unwary prey strays within his reach. But whether he’s thinking now or just preparing to spring, Matt has no way of knowing.

“Maybe you are not so soft as that,” Kraven says finally. “And you are right. You are being valorous adversaries, but you are not my true prey. It would bring dishonor to the name of Kravinoff to turn the Daredevil in for money.”

Foggy lets out a relieved breath, and Matt nearly collapses on the floor of his cage. Foggy did it. Somehow, miraculously, he saved them all.

Kraven holsters his weapon and steps forward. Foggy tenses, but all Kraven does is unlock the door of the cage. Matt springs out as it swings open and stands in front of Foggy, fur bristling ever so slightly - a warning.

“It has been a pleasure to do battle with you, Comrade Daredevil,” Kraven says, inclining his head towards Matt. “Perhaps someday I will return to this wretched city and hunt you again, just for the sport of it.”

Matt lets out a disdainful meow. Kraven laughs and shoulders his pack. “The airborne toxin should be wearing off within the hour; the injected one, perhaps another day. _Dasvidaniya!_ ”

And with that, he steps past Foggy and out the door.

“Jesus,” Foggy breathes, and then drops the cage with a clatter. “Oh shit, Jessica!”

He runs across the room and carefully untangles Jessica from the net. Matt follows, limping a little, and sniffs at Jessica - who lets out a cranky meow, bats his face away with a paw, and sits up.

“Thank God,” Foggy says. “Are you all right? Can you Shift?”

There’s a pause, and then Jessica is sitting on the floor in human form. She smells like blood under the skin, and her ribs creak ominously when she breathes, but Matt doesn’t pick up any more significant damage.

“Okay, _ow_ ,” she says, and pushes her hair back from her face. “What the actual fuck just happened?”

*

Kraven’s true to his word about the toxin. Once Foggy and Jessica get Luke and Danny out of the maintenance building and into the fresh air, it’s less than an hour before they’re both up and alert.

They return to Matt’s apartment the way they came, Jessica leaning reluctantly on Foggy. The others Shift easily back and forth once they’re safely behind closed doors; Matt’s Shifts are more of a struggle, but it gets easier each time.

“You should have heard Foggy,” Danny gushes as Claire wraps Jessica’s ribs. “He was like, ‘You’ll take Matt over my dead body, you dishonorable knave!’”

“I don’t think I’ve ever used the word ‘knave’ in my life,” Foggy says.

“I don’t think _anyone’s_ used it in this _century_. Or the last,” Jessica says, then winces.

“Whatever, it was awesome,” Danny replies, waving a careless hand.

“I can imagine,” Claire says warmly.

Matt silently hands Foggy an icepack for his eye and stands back, plucking at the hem of the t-shirt he changed into once he managed to Shift human. Claire says it’s likely to turn into a gloriously ugly shiner, but that and Jessica’s ribs are the worst injuries anyone’s sustained, which is quite frankly a miracle. Matt wants to check Foggy himself, wants to run his bare fingers over Foggy’s eye socket and cheek to measure how hot and swollen it is, but he can’t bring himself to do it with four other people looking on. He’s not totally sure Foggy would want him to, still.

“Oh, by the way, Kraven thinks you and your antidotes are clever,” Luke tells Claire.

“Oh boy, lucky me, a weirdo in a lion fur vest approves of me,” Claire says, but Matt can tell she’s pleased. “How’s that feel, Jess?”

Jessica takes a deep breath and tugs her shirt back down. “Not my favorite broken ribs I’ve ever had, but not my least favorite, either. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Claire turns to Matt. “What about you, Saint Matthew? Any aches and pains you’re not telling me about? Dizziness? Urge to grow fur and a tail?”

Matt smiles faintly. “I’m okay. Thank you, Claire.” He turns to address the room more fully. “Thanks to all of you.”

“All part of being on the team,” says Danny.

“We’re not a team,” Jessica and Luke say in unison.

Danny laughs and claps Foggy on the shoulder. “Come on, smooth talker, I’ll buy you a beer.”

“Uh...I think I’m gonna hang out here for a bit, actually,” Foggy says. From the way he turns his head, he’s glancing at Matt.

“Ooooh, right, gotcha,” Danny says, with a wink so unsubtle Matt can virtually _hear_ it. “You guys have fun.”

“Yeah, enjoy your _lover_ ,” Jessica drawls in a thick Russian accent. Luke chokes back an audible laugh as Foggy groans and puts his face in his palms, then groans again as it jars his black eye.

“Okay, okay, very funny, thanks, goodbye now,” Matt says, showing them to the door and locking it behind them. He takes a deep breath, then returns to where Foggy’s waiting on the couch. “How’s your eye?”

“Cold,” Foggy says, readjusting the ice pack. “You know, when I was a kid I always wanted to get in a fight and get a black eye, but it’s not that much fun in reality.”

“Yeah, they’re not my favorite,” Matt says, sitting down next to him. “At least he didn’t break your nose.” _I like your nose_ , he doesn’t say.

“Yeah,” Foggy says.

The silence stretches between them, uncomfortably long. Foggy takes a breath, about to say something, but Matt beats him to it:

“You were wrong, you know.”

Foggy tilts his head a little. “Uh - I - about what?”

“What you said to Kraven,” Matt says. “You’re not just a pencil pusher. You’re not useless.” Foggy _is_ soft, he wasn’t wrong about that - but it’s in all the best ways, a softness Matt doesn’t deserve. “You didn’t trade your honor for cash. I _made_ you leave. You know I did.”

“I didn’t have to listen,” Foggy says. “Or I could have listened _more_. To you, and what you were trying to do...I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I’m not gonna say I was wrong to have reservations about Daredevil. I still have reservations. But I also know other vigilantes now, and I think I understand. A little better than I used to, at least.”

For a moment Matt can’t speak, overwhelmed by the grace that’s being offered him. He swallows hard and manages a short, jerky nod.

“I also...may not have been my best self around then,” Foggy says. “I thought I could handle you being with Karen, but seeing you two together, and then with Elektra coming back…” He shakes his head. “It was hard for me, but I shouldn’t have put that on you. And I’m sorry.”

So here it is - what Matt’s been longing to talk about. What he’s been terrified to talk about.

“Foggy, what you said last night…” he starts.

“You really didn’t know?” Foggy asks. Matt shakes his head, and Foggy laughs, a little bitterly. “Well, that’s out there, then. Jeez, you really didn’t...I mean, I was pretty obvious, Murdock.”

“How could you think I knew?” Matt asks. “And what, just...ignored it? Pretended it wasn’t there?”

“I thought you were sparing my feelings,” Foggy says.

“I would never do that,” Matt says vehemently, and Foggy lets out a startled laugh. “No, I mean...Foggy, if I’d known...if you’d told me…” He doesn’t know how to put it into words. “Foggy, I would have said _yes_.”

Foggy’s heart gives a startled leap. “What?”

“You’re...I always...I never thought…” Matt’s fumbling. He’s never let himself hope for this before and something in him still suspects it’ll be pulled out from under him when he least expects it. But he has to try. “I’ve know I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but if you gave me another chance, I’d try so hard to deserve it.”

Foggy’s heart is fluttering in his throat. “If you’re talking about the law firm right now, Matt, I swear to God…”

Matt leans in and kisses him. It’s short and his aim’s a little off, half on Foggy’s mouth and half on his cheek, but he thinks he gets his point across.

“Matt,” Foggy says hoarsely, and for a split second Matt thinks he’s ruined everything before Foggy kisses him properly, ice pack dropping forgotten to his lap as he clutches Matt’s shirt.

“I didn’t think I was allowed to want this,” Matt confesses when they break apart. He hadn’t realized how true it is until he said it out loud, or how _much_ he wants it. But he’s been reminded of Foggy’s bravery so many ways in the past twenty-four hours. He can be that brave, too.

“You’re allowed to want anything,” Foggy assures him. Matt hasn’t heard his voice so tender in months, not even when he was stuck as a cat. He basks in it. “Anything at all. We can work out the rest.”

“I missed you,” Matt says, tracing the edges of Foggy’s face with his thumbs. He skims the cold and puffy edge of Foggy’s black eye and Foggy hisses softly. “I’m sorry you got hurt because of me.”

“I would take a thousand black eyes from a thousand Russians in leopard print leggings for you,” Foggy says solemnly.

“...Okay, seriously, what on Earth was he wearing?”

“I couldn’t begin to describe it,” Foggy says. “Seriously, though, you don’t...you never have to do any of this alone. I’m not saying you need to join the team - ”

“They’re not a team,” Matt says, and with his hands still on Foggy’s face can feel his grin.

“ - but they’re there. And I’m here. We can talk about details, but...I want to be here for you, Matt.”

Matt presses his face into the curve of Foggy’s neck, overwhelmed again. Foggy doesn’t try to make him speak, just strokes his hair and waits.

Finally Matt turns his head, just enough so that his words won’t be muffled against Foggy. “When I was a kid and Stick came, he always said that when I was ready, he’d take me to join his pack. I guess that was the Chaste. He never really told me much about them. But that’s how Shifters are supposed to live - in packs.”

“Were they all cat Shifters? The Chaste?” Foggy asks.

“I think so,” Matt says. “Stick is, and Elektra...Elektra was, so…” He swallows. “My dad wasn’t a Shifter, you know.”

“Yeah, you told me,” Foggy murmurs.

“Just my mom,” Matt says. “And I never knew her. And when Stick left…” He takes a long, slow breath. “I never had a pack, is the thing.”

“Yes, you did,” Foggy says gently. He hasn’t stopped petting Matt’s hair.

“Yeah,” Matt says. “But I didn’t realize that until you left.” He tilts his face up so that Foggy can see his expression, can see how earnest he’s trying to be. “I won’t forget it again, Foggy.”

Foggy rewards him with a kiss. “It’s not just me, you know,” he says. “It’s Claire, and Karen if you let her, and Jessica and Luke even if they pretend they don’t want it. And Danny, my God, that kid is desperate for friends.”

“I know,” Matt says. “But it’s mostly you, Foggy. It’s always been you.”

Foggy presses his smile to Matt’s cheek. “Right back atcha, Murdock,” he says.

Then he sighs. “You know, we should probably figure out what to do about the fact that Vanessa’s gunning for Daredevil. She can’t be a fan of Nelson and Murdock either.”

“We’ll handle it,” Matt says. “I have a valorous lover, remember?” Foggy snorts a laugh. “Seriously, though. I’m not worried.”

“There’s the reckless optimist I went into business with,” Foggy says. “That’s okay, I’ll do all the worrying for both of us, and you do all the situps. Division of labor.”

“Deal,” Matt says, and lets his head sink back down on Foggy’s shoulder. Foggy scratches him lightly under the fall of his hair at the nape of his neck, and Matt pushes his face into Foggy’s shoulder, pleased. If he could, he’d purr, and for a moment he’s tempted to Shift just for that.

Instead, he stays as he is. There’ll be time for begging affection from Foggy in feline form, for deciding if they’re going to resurrect the firm, for figuring out what to do about Vanessa. There’ll be time to hash out all the things that broke them apart before, and forging a better way forward.

But for now, he’s being held by someone who loves him.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Red in Tooth and Claw](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12314772) by [Jadesfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadesfire/pseuds/Jadesfire)




End file.
